How Did John Locke Contribute To Government

John Locke is one of the most influential political philosophers of modern times. Throughout his philosophical ideals, his main argument was that people have rights. Those rights being, the right to life, liberty, and property. He argues that these rights are basic human principles regardless of any laws denying so. Locke used the claim that humans are naturally free for understanding of political government. John Locke is to be remembered for his wise and brilliant contributions to issues that still concern us to this day. His theories on religious toleration and his concept of the rights of citizens, helped create us into the society we are in present day. The first question Locke grew fascinated by, was what to do with people who don’t agree with your religious views. In breaking away from the Catholic Church in the 16th century, English Protestantism had started a process of noisy questioning of religion that couldn’t be easily stopped. There were arguments that there should be total …show more content…
Secondly, “Even if they could, enforcing a single ‘true religion’ would never work, because you can’t be compelled into belief through violence.” (Locke). And thirdly, “coercing religious uniformity leads to far more social disorder than allowing diversity.” (Locke). Locke argued that the ultimate aim of the state was to just preserve the quiet and comfortable living of men in society, but that it’d have nothing to do with the good of men’s souls. Religion was a personal choice, and churches were voluntary organizations, which could set their own rules and be left to it. It was thanks to Locke’s influence, that the idea of locking up people for their beliefs fell entirely out of favor. This was a truly remarkable achievement for one book, by one man to have set in train, but Locke didn’t stop